Takata (2014)

This Japanese company manufactures 20% of all airbags in the car industry, and recently admitted that a great deal of their airbags were faulty.

Worldwide, the number of affected vehicles has been estimated to be in excess of 53 million, with at least 600,000 of those being in Australia. However, this recall has been so large that this figure is difficult to estimate and the defective airbags could be affecting even more cars.

Why were the cars with Takata airbags recalled? There is a possibility that the airbags may spray shrapnel when deployed in a crash.

Takata’s recall spans big brands such as Mercedes Benz, Lexus, General Motors, BMW, Ford, and others. Most models were fitted with the faulty airbags between 2003 and 2007.